Snow scraper



Dec. 16, 1969 E. w. WENZEL SNOW SCRAPER Filed NOV. 22, 1967 Fl(3.l

INVENTOR .EE/Mfdu his) Ids/1125;. Q2 2? ATTORNEYS United States Patent 03,483,643 SNOW SCRAPER Erickson Wey Wenzel, Silver Lake Road, Rte. S,Traverse City, Mich. 49684 Filed Nov. 22, 1967, Ser. No. 685,138 Int.Cl. Etllh 5/02; A47] 13/02 US. C]. 37-53 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE This invention relates to snow scrapers. In one of itsaspects it relates to a snow scraper having a pair of runners attachedtogether at one end and being spaced apart and generally curved upwardlyat the other end thereof, a scraper blade rotatably atached between therunners, the blade being so positioned and shaped that when the blade isrotated away from the runners, the bottom of the blade will bepositioned below the surface of the runners, and means to restrain theextent of rotation of the blade with respect to the runners.

In another one of its aspects, the invention relates to a snow scraperespecially adapted for cleaning snow from rooftops and the like as hasbeen herein before described wherein a motion limiting means for theblade is provided to limit the extent of rotation away from the runnersto a scraping position and to limit the rotation of the blade toward therunners when in a sliding position.

A primary reguisite of a rooftop snow scraper is that the implement bepermitted to move upwardly or away from the edge of the roof withoutpushing the snow in that direction. Another requirement is that when theimplement is pulled toward the edge of the roof, the snow be pulledalong and 01f the roof.

Many implements have been designed for removing snow from rooftops. Mostof the implements heretofore devised have attempted a compromise betweenthese two functions. When the implement is made so that it will readilyslide over the snow on the roof, it is inefficient in removing the snowfrom the roof when it is pulled toward the roof edge. Conversely, when agood scraping implement is provided, the implement also pushes the snowup or away from the edge of the roof.

I have now discovered a roof snow scraper which can be pushed up theroof without pushing snow and which scraper will pull the snow down fromthe roof when it is pulled toward the edge of the roof, by employing arotatable scraper blade with a rotation limiting means on the structure.

By various aspects of this invention, one or more of the following, orother, objects can be obtained.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved snow scraper.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improvedimplement for removing snow from rooftops.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an improvedscraper adapted to be pushed up a roof without pushing the snow in thatdirection, and yet adapted to pull the snow from the roof when pulled inthe opposite direction.

Patented Dec. 16, 1969 "ice It is yet another object of this inventionto provide a roof snow scraper which has an active and inactive positionwherein the scraper is inactive when moved in a first direction andactive when moved in a second direction, and wherein the pulling of thescraper against the snow activates the scraper to the active position.

Other aspects, objects and the several advantages of this invention areapparent to one skilled in the art from a study of this disclosure, thedrawings, and the appended claims.

According to the invention, there is provided a snow scraper, preferablyfor rooftops, which snow scraper employs a pair of runners attachedtogether at one end and being spaced and curved generally upwardly atthe other end. The pair of runners has a scarper blade rotatablyattached there between which blade is rotatable away from and toward therunners such that the free end of the blade can be positioned near therunners or below the runners. Means are provided to restrain therotation of the blade such that in one extreme position the blade is ina scraping position, and in the other position, the blade is in asliding position. Handle means are attached to the runners to pull andpush the scraper over the snow.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG' 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the operation of the embodiment of theinvention shown in FIG. 1 as it is pushed upwardly on a rooftopcontaining snow; and

FIG. 3 is a elevational view of a rooftop similar to FIG. 2 showing theoperation of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 asthe snow scraper is pulled downwardly on the rooftop.

Referring now to the drawings, the snow scraper has a handle 2 with apair of runners 4 attached to the handle with bolts 3. The runners arespaced from each other at the other end and have a generally upwardlyturned configuration at 18 and 20. A hinged scraper blade is rotatablyattached to each runner by pins 24 and 26. A chain 16 and 12 limit theextent of rotation of the free end of the scraper blade 8 away from therunners. Brackets 14 and 16 are attached to the scraper blade andprojecting outwardly thereof limit the extent of totation of the freeend of scraper blade toward the runners 4 and 6.

In operation, as shown in FIG. 2, the device is placed on a roof withthe upwardly turned ends 18 and 20 facing upwardly. As the handle ispushed upwardly, scraper blade 8 will be rotated such that the free endis positioned near the curved runners. Brackets 14 and 16 will contactthe runners to prevent the scraper blade 8 from being positioned withinthe plane of the runners. In this condition, however, the implement willfreely move over the top of the snow without scraping or pushing thesame so long as it is moved in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG.2.

When the implement has been pushed upwardly on the rooftop 22 farenough, the handle 2 is pulled downwardly. The snow will catch underscraper blade 8 due to the fact that bracket 16 has provided a spacebetween the free edge of the scraper blade 8 and the runners 6 and 4. Asthe handle is pulled downwardly on the rooftop, the snow will cause thescraper blade to rotate such that the free end would be substantiallyperpendicular to the plane or the runners. In this position, the chain10 and 12 will limit the rotation of the scraper blade 8 so that I'thescraper blade will pull the snow off the roof as shown in FIG. 3.

The free ends of runners 18 and 20 are extended a spaced distance fromthe blade 8 so that the runners 18 and 20 will catch on the rooftop atthe edge when the snow has been pulled off the edge of the roof. Thescraper can then be pushed back up the roof adjacent the cleared ,pathwithout having to lift the scraper up to the roof again.

The brackets 14 and 16 preferably extend out beyond the edge of scraperblade 8 and have a curved outer surface so that the edge of the scraperblade will not damage the roof. As the snow is being pulled from therooftop, curved brackets contact the rooftop.

Whereas the invention has been described with relation to a particularembodiment, it is obvious that other embodiments can be devised withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention. For example, brackets 14 and16 could be replaced by small projections on the runners themselves toprevent the scraper blade from falling within the confines of the curvedrunners. Further, the runners themselves and/or the scraper blade couldbe so shaped as to maintain a space between the free edge of scraperblade 8 and the runners 4 and 6. Other means could also be devised forlimiting the rotation of the scraper blade away from the runners 4 and6.

I claim:

1. A snow scraper for use in removing snow from roofs and the like, saidsnow scraper comprising:

a pair of runners being spaced apart and curved generally upwardly atone end, said runners being constructed so as to ride over the surfaceof snow;

a handle rigidly fixed to said runners at another end thereof so thatsaid runners are supported by said handle;

a scraper blade having a pivoted end and a free end, said pivoted endbeing fixed between said runners a spaced distance from said one end sothat said free end extends and freely swings below the bottom surface ofsaid runner;

means to limit the rotational movement of said scraper blade such thatsaid free end can rotate between a point just below the bottom surfaceof said scraper blade closest to said handle relative to said pivotedend on said scraper blade, to a point a predetermined distance away fromsaid runners, whereby as said snow scraper is pushed up along a snowcovered roof, said runners and said scraper blade ride on top of thesnow, and as said snow scraper is pulled downwardly toward the supportedend of said handle, said free end of said blade swings downwardly tocatch the snow and thereby pull it from the roof.

2. A snow scraper according to claim 1 wherein said runners are formedfrom tubular members.

3. A snow scraper according to claim 1 wherein said rotation limitingmeans comprises at least one chain connected at one end to said runnersbetween the point of attachment of said blade to said runners and theother ed of said runners from said curved portion, said chain beingconnected at the other end to said rotatable blade such that said bladeis prevented from rotating more than a predetermined distance away fromsaid runners.

4. A snow scraper according to claim 3 wherein said rotation restrainingmeans further comprises a means to space a free end of said scraperblade a predetermined distance from said runners when said free end ofsaid scraper blade is closest to said runners.

5. A snow scraper according to claim 1 wherein said rotation limitingmeans includes at least one pin extending outwardly of said scraperblade and being so shaped and positioned as to abut against a bottomsurface of one of said runners so that when said scraper blade is pulledtoward said supported end of said handle, the snow will catch under saidblade and thereby cause said free end of said scraper blade to rotateaway from said runners to pull the snow therewith.

6. A snow scraper for removing snow from rooftops comprising a pair ofrunners spaced apart, a handle fixed to one end of said runners, ascraper blade rotatably attached at one end thereof to each of saidrunners at a point intermediate the ends thereof so that a free end ofsaid scraper blade freely swings below a bottomI surface of saidrunners, positioning means between said runners and said scraper bladeto maintain the free end of said scraper blade below the general planedefined by said runners and nearest said handle relative to said one endof said scraper blade, and rotation limiting means to re strain theextent of rotation of said scraper blade away from said runners suchthat when said snow scraper is pulled down a rooftop toward an edge saidscraper blade will pull snow on said rooftop over the edge of the roof,said runners having a free end extending away from said blade asufiicient distance that when said blade falls off a roof edge, saidrunners will catch on the rooftop and prevent said snow scraper fromfalling off of said rooftop.

7. A snow scraper according to claim 6 wherein said positioning meanscomprises a bracket which extends out beyond the edge of said scraperblade and said bracket has a curved outer surface such that said curvedsurface will contact said rooftop when said scraper blade is pullingsnow from said rooftop. 1

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 289,131 11/1883 Patten 37-123403,661 5/1889 Hall 37-122 534,257 2/1895 Fox 37122 615,036 11/1898Mulder 37l23 842,704 1/ 1907 Robins 37123 1,100,197 6/1914 Plummer37-l23 2,710,465 6/ 1955 Timerson 37-53 3,218,738 11/1965 Bowerman 37-53ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner EUGENE H. EICKHOLT, AssistantExaminer US. Cl. X.R. l5236; 29454

